Will baking soda kill chickens?

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Wow...9 1/2 week old chicks indoors? I imagine that IS ripe!

Another option is biochar, which is just charcoal. You could but a bag of lump (not briquette) charcoal, and crush some fairly fine and mix with the bedding. I’ve found it’s great at absorbing odors (although it is black so a bit dirty).

My favorite crushing method is a plastic bucket and a scrap of lumber (think mortar and pestle).

The good news is that if the chicks did consume any biochar, it’s at worst neutral and likely beneficial to their digestive tracks.

 

[RipandSlim]

You might want to look into getting some DE to sprinkle around in the shavings. I use it and it works great.

what is DE?

 

[TOR]

what is DE?

diatomaceous earth

 

[Robert oc]

DE is on prop 65 list of cancer causing substances

 

[rembrandt]

I'm certainly not an expert, but based on the little I do "know" (i.e. have read), I'd be very cautious about feeding birds of any sort something that will produce gas. Birds do not have the ability to pass gas. Someone mentioned cattle, but they are ruminants. They belch and yes, even fart! Birds however, (in my experience) do not do either.

I agree with the person who mentioned "wet manure" as an odor producer. DE is your friend in many respects. It helps with drying, its is a natural de-wormer, and in your feed will help prevent bugs from eating it. I use it in my coop bedding, nesting boxes, feed, and in their dust bathing areas. You should be able to find it at a relatively cheap price at a feed store...where they produce feed, not the store fronts.

Vinegar is the BEST odor eliminator I've found. It neutralizes the ammonia (at least I believe that's what I read). I use it to clean up my carpets (esp after a urine or fecal accident), wipe down my counters, even in my rinse cycle for laundry (great fabric softener too!). However, its wet, therefore you cannot use it in your bedding...just for cleaning the area. Its also a natural way to kill germs as it is out of Ph balance with most things.

Someone mentioned worries about chickens exploding w ingestion of baking soda. Baking soda is an effective rodent deterrent for that very reason - if they eat enough.) As mentioned above, rodents (like chickens) are unable to belch or pass gas, so the BSoda causes rodents to have internal eruptions, (same w insects.) Though personally I don't want to kill any living creature, and have tried repeater live-trapping rats, but they multiply very fast! And when they are infesting my coop areas, jeopardizing my girls health & safety, they've got to go! There are several recipes online mixing BS w corn meal or jiffy mix w a little sugar. The best I've found so far is mixing BS 1/2 & 1/2 w peanut butter, and I roll it into little balls. Most recently I saw popcorn broken down smaller, then sprinkled w shave soap (or even liquid detergent) then add baking soda.

 

[Wildbill BS]

DE is on prop 65 list of cancer causing substances

That's in California, everything causes cancer in California

 

[Jodiwan]

I wasn't sure where to post this, so I did it here...
My chickens are 9.5 weeks old and still in the house as we are finalizing the coop, still.... (Yeah, hubby bought them without a plan, and then had to go out of town for a couple of weeks, and is OOT again...) It is mostly varmint proofing left, and I am guessing they will be out of the house in about 3 more days...but, it is taking me longer to put the finishing touches on their coop... (mis-measuring the chicken escape hatch, adding hardware cloth, etc, is taking me sooo much longer than I thought.. ) and it keeps getting up in the 100's by noon, so I only have 4 hours in the morning and a couple at night...
Anyway, so, I am trying really hard... but my problem is, they STINK SO BAD!

I have changed the entire brooder's, cleaned the brooder with vinegar and soap...went outside to toss the litter into the compost heap... and when I came back in, it still smelled like poop already!!!

I thought maybe I had wafted it into the air, so when I left to go pick up my kids 3 hours later, I opened the door & the house still smelled. Terrible. They are in about 2-3 inches of wood shavings...
So, I just changed it, again, and dusted the bottom with baking soda for the stench... my 10 year old freaked out, and is thinking their guts are going to blow up. (Think Alka Seltzer.)
I mixed the BS around, and it is a very fine film on the bottom of the brooder... do you think this is okay? If I wind up with dead birds, I will be seriously upset...

I don't think they'd really be able to eat a whole bunch of it... but, now I am feeling worried...

You tried sprinkling lime?

 

[Mother of Chaos]

You tried sprinkling lime?

Hi, you've replied to a 2009 post, and the poster last posted in 2012.